The Mu variant "
little detected
" in France, "
an additional period
" requested for the vaccination obligation of hospital staff, China is relaxing its entry rules for the French ...
Le Figaro
takes stock this Friday, September 3 on the latest information related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read alsoMasks and vaccine weigh on the start of the school year
The Mu variant "
little detected
" in France
The new variant of the coronavirus, baptized Mu, identified for the first time in Colombia in January and which according to the WHO could potentially resist vaccines, is for the moment "
little present in France
", indicated the agency Public Health France. The B.1.621 variant, according to scientific nomenclature, was classified at the end of August as "
variant to follow
" by the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to the WHO, this variant has mutations that could indicate a risk of "
immune escape
" (resistance to vaccines), and more studies are needed to better understand its characteristics. It first appeared in Colombia, on the Atlantic coast, in January. Since then, he has been "
under close surveillance
", but seems for the moment "
very little present in France,
" said Sibylle Bernard-Stoecklin of the infectious diseases department of Public Health France (SPF) on Friday during a weekly press briefing. And its presence "
does not seem to have increased recently
" in the country, as well as elsewhere in Europe, she stressed. In France, it even seems "
decrease in August
”whereas it had“
slightly increased
”in June / July.
Read also In hospital, the gap is widening between vaccinated and unvaccinated
Child care: unvaccinated parents benefit, the government wants to "
regularize
"
The compensation rules for employees forced to keep their children diagnosed positive for Covid-19 paradoxically favor the unvaccinated, a situation that the Ministry of Labor promised on Friday to "
regularize
".
"
There is a decision in the course of arbitration to regularize the situation,
" said this source to AFP, confirming information from the
Parisian
.
According to the current health insurance compensation rules, employees who do not have a complete vaccination schedule and who are parents of children with Covid can declare themselves on sick leave for a week and receive compensation. daily equivalent under certain conditions to 90% of gross salary. However, this possibility is no longer open to fully vaccinated employees because they are no longer considered by Health Insurance as a "
contact case
". The latter must therefore turn to their employer and obtain either to be placed in partial activity (compensated at 70% of gross, therefore 20 points less than sick leave), or to benefit from sick child leave, or telework for positions that allow it.
"SEE ALSO - Covid-19: in Marseille,"
we let nonsense run through
"on vaccination, regrets Emmanuel Macron
FO-Santé asks for "
an additional period
" for the vaccination obligation
The FO-Santé union asked the government on Friday "
an additional period
" for the implementation of the vaccination obligation, supposed to apply from September 15 for hospital staff.
"
The obligation on September 15 will generate situations which, in places, will be unmanageable,
" said the secretary general of FO-Santé, Didier Birig, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, and distributed to the press .
On that date, employees of hospitals and nursing homes who have not received at least one dose of vaccine against Covid-19 may be suspended, without remuneration.
The union leader is worried about "the
difficulties that the application of sanctions would generate in certain structures, where the closures of services and beds are being considered for lack of sufficient staff to ensure the care of the sick
".
Read also Covid-19 rebound in Israel but not in Jordan: is vaccination called into question?
Corse-du-Sud: health pass suspended in shopping centers
The prefecture of Corse-du-Sud announced Friday the suspension of the health pass obligation in shopping centers of more than 20,000 m², without waiting for a court decision, she announced in a press release.
Decrees imposing the health pass have already been suspended by the courts in several departments of France, in particular Yvelines and Essonne.
To read also Jérôme Sainte-Marie: "
The anti-sanitary pass movement does not only concern popular categories
"
Online sales booming in France
The number of business start-ups in online sales and home delivery in France increased sharply in 2020, taking advantage of the closure of non-essential businesses due to the health crisis, INSEE reported on Friday.
In online sales, they increased by 57% to 33,000 companies created, specifies the National Institute of Statistics.
Read alsoCovid-19: the atmosphere is tense in the vaccination centers
End of the European Union -AstraZeneca dispute
The European Union and AstraZeneca announced on Friday that they had reached an agreement on the supply of the Twenty-Seven with anti-Covid vaccines, ending the legal proceedings initiated in the spring against the pharmaceutical company accused of having delayed delivering the promised doses .
By the end of the first quarter of 2022, the Anglo-Swedish group is committed to delivering in several stages an additional total of around 200 million doses to supplement the approximately 100 million already received by the Member States.
Read alsoCovid-19: are we on the way to “a life close enough to normal”?
COVID-related restrictions causing temporary improvement in air quality
Containment and travel restrictions intended to fight the pandemic have led to a dramatic but temporary improvement in air quality, the United Nations said. In 2020, restrictions linked to Covid-19 led to a temporary drop in air pollution in many places, especially metropolitan areas, concludes a report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a UN agency .
But they have also caused an increase in certain pollutants that are dangerous for health and whose impact on climate change is difficult to determine.
"
The Covid-19 turned out to be an unexpected experiment on air quality
", which allowed "
temporary improvements locally,
" said Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the WMO, in a statement.
»SEE ALSO - Covid-19: Denmark says goodbye to the health pass
Compulsory vaccination in New Caledonia
Vaccination against Covid-19 will become compulsory in New Caledonia for all adults, except those with a medical contraindication, while only 30% of the population of the archipelago is to date fully vaccinated.
This obligation, adopted unanimously by Congress on Friday, will also apply to all travelers wishing to visit the archipelago, a rare territory in the world still free from Covid-19.
Unvaccinated people will be refused entry to the territory.
Read alsoCovid-19: vaccination without appointment this weekend in France
Prolonged confinement in Polynesia
The containment and curfew measures in force since August 23 in French Polynesia will be extended by 15 days, until September 20, said High Commissioner Dominique Sorain, who calls for better compliance with the restrictive measures.
»SEE ALSO - Covid-19: Venezuela prepares to vaccinate children aged 3 to 18
China relaxes entry rules for French people
French people with a valid Chinese residence permit will now be able to return to China without having to make a tedious new visa application, Chinese and French authorities said on Friday. The Asian country has globally controlled the Covid-19 epidemic on its soil since the spring of 2020 and has only recorded a handful of new daily patients. However, he is worried about an importation of the virus via travelers arriving from abroad.
Anyone wishing to travel to China had to reapply for a visa with the Chinese authorities.
But these were only issued in small quantities and to a small number of candidates.
"
French people holding a valid Chinese residence permit can now return to China without first making a new visa application
," the French embassy in China said on Friday.
Read alsoCovid-19: WHO is considering giving names of constellations to future variants
Fall in services in China
Activity in services in China plunged in August, a contraction not seen since last year, due in particular to the resurgence of Covid cases last month, according to an independent index published on Friday.
4.5 million deaths worldwide
The Covid-19 pandemic has killed at least 4,539,397 people around the world since the end of December 2019, according to an AFP report. The United States is the most affected country in the world with 643,669 deaths, ahead of Brazil (581,914), India (439,895), Mexico (261,496) and Peru (198,364). The WHO estimates, taking into account the excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, that the toll of the pandemic could be two to three times higher than that calculated from official figures.
